Green Weddings

By Mireya Navarro

A green wedding opts for the environmentally-friendly alternative to each element of the celebration, from invitations and the dress to the cake. Many couples who go green in their wedding planning have already recycled their glass, paper and plastic, shopped for organic food at farmers’ markets and conserved energy at home, so they want to extend their earth-conscious values to their big day.

While no hard statistics are available on the number of green weddings in the United States, surveys by bridal magazines and businesses &mdash; and a thriving mini-industry of green wedding websites and online stores &mdash; point to a noticeable trend. Many couples say they like the idea of downsizing and simplifying their wedding to prevent more depletion of natural resources. The concept of shunning excess and over-consumption is also particularly appealing at a time wedding budgets often reach into the tens of thousands of dollars.

The first item on the to-do list of a green wedding is finding ways to shrink the event’s carbon footprint &mdash; in other words, to cut down on the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to global warming. In the United States, more than two-thirds of emissions are produced by energy consumption and transportation. For a wedding, this translates into choices that minimize long distance travel for both guests and products and that emphasize the recycled over the brand new.

And the smaller the guest list, the smaller the impact on the environment.

The greenest venue is the one closest to most guests since the location determines how many people would have to fly or drive long distances. Outdoor venues like parks and botanical gardens have the advantage of providing their own natural beauty, which minimizes the need for decorations. Daytime weddings also save on electric power.

When considering indoor weddings, hotels, restaurants, community centers and even churches should subscribe to environmentally-sound practices for energy efficiency, water conservation and garbage disposal.

Some couples choose a venue to support a cause &mdash; a community center, an art gallery or museum &mdash; because they consider giving back to their community and helping other people a worthy sustainable practice. And short of eloping (what could be greener?), some couples choose the cyberwedding, inviting only a handful of guests to their vows and streaming the ceremony live to other relatives and friends around the world on the Internet.

The Invitation

Couples spare trees with invitations made of recycled paper, or by avoiding paper altogether and sending word of their nuptials by email. Many etiquette experts frown on these electronic invitations as too impersonal but they approve of other paper-free communication through wedding Web sites. On these sites, couples can post directions to the wedding location, link to their registry and give other information to guests.

The Registry

In the spirit of avoiding waste, some couples suggest that guests give practical and philanthropic gifts, such as a donation to reduce their honeymoon expense or to an animal shelter. Those who won’t forgo their presents often suggest green items such as bamboo tableware or patio furniture made of recycled milk jugs. While a decidedly unfriendly mark-up in price often accompanies eco-friendly products, guests are sure to welcome a couple’s preference for no gift wrap.

The Dress

Many brides turn to a second-hand gown borrowed or bought on Craigslist or eBay, eager to re-use or recycle products to cut down on the energy required to make a brand new one. (The grooms still rent.) Brides who buy new may re-sell the dress after the wedding, or donate it to a charity that raises funds by selling wedding dresses, so it can be worn again.

Some brides opt to wear a party dress or evening gown that can be worn again and again long after the “I do’s.”

The Reception

Where a product comes from is an important factor to consider in green weddings because buying local means that items such as food, flowers and decorations don’t have to be shipped from far, thus avoiding unnecessary transportation-related carbon emissions. A local and seasonal menu is frequently more popular than an organic menu, which is usually pricier (there’s also organic cake and beverages.) By simply not serving beef, whose production is highly energy-intensive, couples are helping the environment.

Tableware should be reusable, as in rented china and linens. Environmentally-aware caterers also note that, for the least impact, the bride and groom should pare down the courses and choose a seated dinner rather than a buffet, which requires more plates and utensils (when people go back for seconds) that need to be transported and washed.

And if there’s a party favor at all, it tends to be charitable or practical as well – for instance, a donation to a favorite cause in the name of the guest or edibles such as organic chocolate.

Green weddings can certainly lead to celebrations that are simpler and more practical, and even less costly, but their benefit to the environment is difficult to quantify. Some energy experts say the impact of individual lifestyle choices pales in comparison to what government action could achieve in one fell swoop. Recycling and composting garbage, or buying organic flowers for the wedding, these experts say, are measures that do not approach the benefit to the environment of having the country turn to renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, for all its electricity.

On the other hand, with more than 2 million marriages taking place in the United States each year, many couples see value in the cumulative and ripple effect of a green wedding, including supporting eco-friendly products and services and inspiring friends and family to follow the happy couple along a greener path.

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